outbreak

Having a broken horse is really starting to wear on me. The fall weather is beginning to peek through the heat and humidity, and all I want to do is put Lucy back to work. We had the best rides in the early fall and it kills me that she is just standing around doing nothing. Everyone at the barn has been out on the trails and having fun and I just feel sad about the whole thing. I am not sad that they're having fun, of course, but I am sad I can't be out there too!

I actually did get to go on a trail ride last week, on one of the other horses at the barn. I had a great time but wished that I were on Lucy :)

I am not used to chestnut ears pricked in front of me, but this horse was
nothing short of a complete gentleman the entire ride. He is a sweetheart.

I called the vet's office yesterday to ask about another ultrasound appt to check the healing progress in her back. The receptionist looked at the notes from the July 1 visit and said I'd probably be wasting my time and money at this point, because the vet didn't feel she'd be rideable before September or October. I felt very sorry for myself, honestly. If we're already going to be in October, then it will be getting cold fast after that. We all know Lu is not a cold weather horse. I guess I might as well wait until the Spring? Give her an extra six months just to be safe? I don't know.

When I arrived at the barn yesterday after having a sob fest about her state of brokenness, I cleaned Lucy's stall and then went out to her paddock. She usually comes over and says hi, but she stood there awkwardly. Finally she GIMPED over to me. I had to pick my jaw up off the ground. I checked her out and couldn't find anything wrong. No kicks from Brantley, no swelling or heat, no blood. Then I saw she was missing the shoe on her LF. I watched her move in her paddock a bit more and saw she was just ridiculously foot-sore on that left front. Ironically that foot still had the bell boot on it, but the other front foot did not have a bell boot, and DID have a shoe. Weird. At least it's better than a real injury. I hope my farrier can come out in the next day or two!

In other fun news, EHV-1 (Equine Herpes Virus, or Rhinopneumonitis) has been diagnosed in multiple horses at the same farm just 10 miles or so from where Lucy lives. It's a bit of an odd case. Here is a blurb from the email my vet sent out:

"Interesting features: 5 horses on the affected premises, 2 have remained normal, 2 have mild signs and hopefully will recover, 1 euthanized, none of the horses on the affected (index) premises have been vaccinated for years; none of the horses on the affected premises have left the farm for years; neighbor has three horses and are all clinically normal, all are vaccinated against EHV, and one has gone to events, but not since late June; horses from index premises broke fence last week and had fence line contact with neighbor's horses."

I'm not sure if a horse that has been vaccinated can be an a-symptomatic carrier, and one of the vaccinated horses gave the non-vaccinated horses EHV-1?

Lucy gets vaccinated for EHV-1 every year in late Spring. The vaccine is good for six months and my vet assured me that she would be covered through the fall. Still, this is pretty scary. I really appreciate that my vet's office was so proactive getting the word out to us all.

Progress Check

Today was Lucy's appointment with the vet to check the progress of her healing. I have had many dreams of riding her on the beach and through the woods leading up to today, and I felt very nervous about this appointment. I could have done shockwave or other therapies and I chose not to, mostly for financial reasons. What if I made the wrong choice? What if I should have kept her on stall rest? I just hoped she had improved and that maybe I could ride her soon.

I called the vet at 8:30am to see when they would be out, and the receptionist said that she didn't have the schedule finalized yet, and needed to call me back. Ok, no problem! I went back to work and waited for the call. Two hours passed, which is an exceptionally long time, and then she finally called back. She said that the ultrasound machine was not working correctly, and they couldn't come out today. I was so gutted, I cannot even tell you. I had persuaded my boss to let me work from home today, I had gotten up at the crack of dawn to start work early in case they had to come out first thing this morning, and I had waited three months and spent over $4,000 to get to this point. Not to mention I made this appointment almost a month ago, and the only piece of equipment they needed was the one thing that wasn't working! I was so overwhelmed and upset, but I remained totally polite and said I understood, and agreed to reschedule the appointment. The first date that worked for both of us was two weeks away. I hung up the phone and felt sorry for myself. Did I really have to wait another two weeks? Ugh!

A few minutes later they called back, and said they had been able to swap the machine out with another vet's machine, and they could come out that day! What a relief! After that, I felt shaky and even more nervous for the appointment.

When the vet called to say he was on his way, I rushed over to the barn, brushed her off, and then waited. He first sedated her, and since she was in lala land and he had the ultrasound machine, he checked her ovaries. They are both 100% normal; the one on the right has a huge follicle (so she is in heat right now) and I am pretty sure that we can put that entire thing to rest. Then he clipped her along her spine (bummer) and his assistant cleaned her off really well with alcohol pads so that no dirt got into the ultrasound probe.

getting clipped

They applied gel and then started the ultrasound. As he went along the spine I could see the tissue between the spinus processes: normal, normal, normal, not normal.....ahhh crap, she wasn't healed. He confirmed that he could see the injury, but from the report from Tuft's, it seemed to have healed significantly. It had originally spanned across three vertebra, and now barely stretched along one. So that is great news. However, she will need more time off before I can ride. She is allowed to start lunging, 5 minutes a day and working up from there. She cannot be silly or kick out on the lunge line, and he advised using a Pessoa system or side reins. If she is too hot or crazy, I can give her Ace.

I took her out today on the lunge line, even though I didn't have a Pessoa system, and had her trot around. I didn't give her any Ace because she seemed very chill. She was awesome, and behaved perfectly. She stretched down and trotted out nicely, not getting riled up in the least.

So I am happy she's progressing, but sad that we still have a long time ahead of us before I can ride.

Appropriately, I got the reimbursement cheque back from the insurance today. They covered $3700 of the bill, so yes, insurance is totally worth it. :)

rough boarding is rough!

The day before yesterday, I started to get an itchy rash in a few spots on my stomach and wrists. I had no idea what it was until yesterday, when it had very clearly developed into poison ivy!

Without fail, I get poison ivy at least a few times during the summer but we are in the middle of a New England winter! There's a ton of snow on the ground! Where was this poison ivy coming from?

Thanks to some wise friends on Facebook, I realised that I most likely got it from handling Lucy's hay. No clue how it got on my stomach, but I guess that a few pieces of hay could have gotten up under my shirt. The whole thing is crazy, especially because I am on the last ten bales of a 50 bale delivery and this is the first time I've had an issue with it. One of my friends noted that poison ivy can grow along the edge of a field and it is very possible that just one or two of the bales that I got have the weeds in there. She also said that the vines can retain the irritating oils for months even after the plant itself is dead!

Just my luck :(

hot tamale

Kenny and I were very busy running errands, going out to the movies and dinner, and then to a friend's housewarming party yesterday, so Lucy got the day off.

At the tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree!

Today when I got to the barn, she had just eaten lunch so I opted to do chores before riding. I cleaned her stall and then moved her from her paddock into one of the grass turnouts so that I could clean the paddock. She was high as a freaking kite, absolutely convinced that there was something super scary in the woods. I heard some rustling around, so maybe there really was something back there, but just watching the way she carried on made me really think twice about riding her! She was going around with her tail straight up in the air, blowing loudly, snorting, etc.

I had to put her back in her paddock, where she settled down immediately. I cleaned the paddock and then took her back out, brushed her, and we went into the indoor where I free lunged her. That seemed to really help calm her down, so I took a leap of faith and tacked up and rode. She was great! There were two other horses in the indoor with us and I think she liked the company. She was a little naughty at the canter to the left but going to the right she was perfect. It was super warm today and she was a disgusting sweaty mess at the end, so then she got a bath. All in all, not bad.

Her wounds are healing very well.

she probably got on the phone with PETA right after I
left. "she is such a mean mom!"

oh how fun, another new injury!

Rehab was going well and I rode Lucy a few times last week. Then on Monday I discovered her RF knee very swollen (soft and spongy) and warm. I cold hosed her for-ehhv-er and hand walked her for about 20 minutes and the swelling went down significantly, then she went on the lunge line and had a little trot so I could see if she was lame. I figured if it was a fracture, bone chip, or impaled object, she'd probably protest to me poking it and messing with the leg in general, not to mention look super lame. I know, I am sooo super high tech. She didn't flinch when I palpated the knee and she was fine on the lunge line. She was totally sound so I opted not have an emotional breakdown or call the vet sobbing (again), and instead I did yet another Furazone sweat with wraps and went home to drown my sorrows in hot chocolate.

My standing wraps are really earning their keep lately!

On Tuesday the knee looked marginally better but was still a little warm and swollen. She got turned out all day with no wraps, and by Tuesday night the swelling had gone down even more. All of my wraps were in the wash so I left her unwrapped Tuesday, but she got buted and hand walked. Yesterday the knee looked pretty much the same even though she hadn't been wrapped, and then last night I wrapped her with a poultice and she looked even better this morning. Also, now that a lot of the swelling has gone down, I can feel a little scab right on the front of her knee so I am just hoping she nicked herself outside and being a typical fragile flower TB, her body's reaction was "ALERT! ALERT!! HORRIBLE INJURY DETECTED!"

Yawn.

Of course if the knee continues to stay swollen I will probably have to get the vet out in case it is actually a little puncture so that we can get that cleared up and probably put her back on SMZ's. I may catch some heat for letting this go without getting the vet out immediately, but honestly at this point, this stuff is not something I'm going to freak out over after she tried to commit suicide a few weeks ago.

She also got new shoes on Tuesday, or at least we attempted to put new shoes on her. The front feet went just fine, and my farrier was thrilled that a horse who couldn't even keep a shoe on her foot for three weeks over the summer kept all four shoes on for over ten weeks. I guess foot supplements really do work! That and Farrier's Fix hoof oil, and Durasole, and a very good farrier.

Anyway, the fronts went fine but she could not hold that left hind leg with the nasty stifle wound up long enough to get a shoe on that foot, so he pulled a stealth ninja move and pulled the hind shoes off in practically .2 seconds. He didn't even file the feet down, just left them as is. She had a good amount of growth over the last ten weeks so that even barefoot, she shouldn't have a problem. Also, unlike when we went barefoot last time behind, she won't be yahoo-ing through the woods or jumping. All we are doing right now (besides feeling sorry for ourselves) is some walk/trot in the indoor. My farrier said we could leave the hind shoes on for another six weeks but I didn't want to have to deal with her throwing the shoes and then needing to get him back out to clean that mess up. I'd rather just take the shoe off.

I suspected that left hind would be a major issue for us because she has a very hard time even picking it up for me to clean that hoof out. It's not an injury internally; it's the scab over the stifle that must be very painful when it stretches. The poor horse tried picking it up for the farrier but she immediately looked totally stressed out and her whole body was shaking, so we did not press the issue. :( Poor baby.

Speaking of the stifle injury, the super ugly scab came off naturally a couple days ago, and now there is a much better looking scab forming quite normally in its place. The wound has closed up about 50%. I am very pleased with her healing!

Her front right tendon looks totally normal and other than the swollen knee, we're doing quite well.

back at it!

Well, it had to happen: I got on Lucy for the first time in three weeks yesterday. She was progressing well on the lunge line and though I was honestly scared shitless, I knew I had to do it. I made Kenny come out and sit with me in case I got tossed, and I lunged her thoroughly before climbing on. She was pretty quiet even though there was a lot going on at the farm and it was a windy day, and someone trucked a horse in and the trailer was right outside the indoor with the horse making a lot of noise. She did spook at something (not sure what since she seemed to tolerate the trailer/horse noise and the wind well) but I sat it fine and put her right to work.

I may be slightly crazy, but I got on her without giving her any drugs.

she caught me totally off-guard with a spook and like an idiot, I
had been doodling along on a loose rein. yup, that's my luck!

rockin' the OTTB.Tee's track jacket. get your own here!

Today was ride #2 and she was much more wild on the lunge line, but then again it was almost 20 degrees colder than it was yesterday and the wind was really howling! I let her get it out of her system and she went around and around and around, throwing some nice big bucks and being a hooligan in general. Once she settled down, we did some constructive lunging (i.e. not just running like a nutcase) and when her rhythm and breathing evened out, I got on. She didn't put a foot wrong and I was even brave enough to canter. I was really pleased with her.

vacation: DONE

I've been hand walking Lucy for the better part of a week. She went from perfect angel to downright terror on the ground. She is extremely pushy and cannot walk around the outdoor without having explosions every ten feet or so. Spooking at a leaf, or nothing at all, wasn't just a small affair; it involved a giant overreaction complete with rushing around, butt tucked under, and showing the whites of her eyes.

I have approximately ZERO tolerance for this nonsense but at the same time, I didn't want to get all down and dirty with her because I didn't want her irritating her tendon. Then she got turned out on grass for a few hours one day. She was happily eating grass until some horses returned from a trail ride. She got excited and was a nutcase, leaping through the air and bucking, running in circles, sliding stops…my poor barn owner was not impressed and I had to spend a lot of time fixing the divots in the grass out there. However, her legs looked just as cold and tight after all that excitement as they did before, and I started to realize that putting her back in some light work wasn't going to break her.

Another thing I noticed is that she seemed to be very depressed. Her appetite has gone way down - before the accident, she was eating a bale of hay per day. Now I'm lucky if I can get half a bale into her. She has dropped a bit of weight and Maddy reported that she spent a good chunk of time standing in the middle of her paddock with her head down, looking dull and sad the other day. Fearing she wasn't feeling well, I gave her a dose of Banamine and checked in on her later that night, but all systems seemed to be working fine. I hope that getting her job back will bring her spirits up.

Last night I lunged her for the first time. I debated drugging her and trying to ride, but I am still missing one of my stirrup leathers/irons from the initial incident. Word on the street is that a neighbor picked it up the morning that she got loose, but I haven't been able to track that neighbor down to see if he has it. I'm sorry but there's no way in hell that I am getting on that horse without two stirrups. Though I am really not a fan of lunging, I am also not a fan of dying so this is the lesser of the two evils.

She started out exceedingly naughty on the lunge line, and each time she acted out, the radius of her circle decreased so I would have more control over her and she would have less opportunity to be bad. When she was being good, I gradually let the line out so that she could have more room (and there would be less stress on her legs). Within about ten minutes she was doing a lovely floaty SOUND trot with her nose on the ground. Her breathing steadied and she started actually listening to me.

When we were done, I unclipped the lunge line and she happily pranced off to find the perfect spot to roll. She rolled on both sides and had a look of bliss on her little horsey face. I cooled her out, cleaned out her stifle wound really well, cold hosed her legs, and treated them with poultice. I left them unwrapped overnight but this morning everything looked peachy. There was no heat, no swelling, and to the naked eye they looked completely normal. I ran my fingers down the right front and there was just the tiniest bump, almost undetectable. So that is really great news!

a happier Lu getting some ice wrap therapy

 I don't know when I will finally get back on her, obviously once the stirrup leather is recovered, maybe over the weekend, or next week? But I am glad I let her get some kicks out before attempting anything under saddle. She is one athletic beast, let me tell you.

She is about a week overdue for shoes - I had to cancel her farrier appointment because the vet did not think she could tolerate standing on three legs for the farrier to do his work. However, I think the tendon is more than strong enough to handle that now, and her stifle injury is healing well, so I called and made an appointment. I warned the farrier that he may have to do those two legs in stages if she has a hard time keeping them up, especially that hind leg, but he is a super guy and assured me that he would take his time and be patient with her.

Kenny and I were able to take our family photo for this year's Christmas card and she thankfully cooperated for that! Good thing because I was wearing heels and it is a little bit difficult to manage a fresh horse with heels on.

Also, Cairo got her photo taken at a local dog specialty store, because the proceeds were going to benefit the local animal rescue league. She was a really good girl! The photographer said she had been waiting all day for a dog to come in who would tolerate wearing the Santa hat.

"I had better get a million cookies for this!!"

handwalking!

Lucy's legs seem to be on the mend, bandage bow included. I felt terribly guilty about the entire thing and ran myself ragged going to the barn 3+ times a day, even when working 8 hour days, to ice/cold hose and wrap her legs overnight. On my vet's advice, I am doing 12 hours unwrapped/12 hours wrapped, and under the wraps she gets poulticed or a Furazone sweat on alternating nights. In the mornings, I am there by 7 to unwrap her legs, cold hose her, and tend to her other injuries. Her road rash has reached the Ugly Stage and the vet told me to just let it do its thing. It isn't going to be pretty but as long as it's healing well and looking not infected, leave it alone. I am exhausted but I don't care, because my efforts are helping.

Lucy's RF looking almost normal after a hot date
with Furazone and standing wraps.

 I will say that having to cold hose on days where the high is in the low 40's is pretty cruel for both me and the horse. She is being so good about it and I am rewarding her with Lick-Its. She seems to be ok with this arrangement.

Yesterday we started handwalking for the first time. She was pretty good, though she got a little excited at the end of the ring where she spooked last Monday, starting off this entire chain of events. One of the other boarders left me a note to tell me that she had also gotten excited when the UPS man made a delivery. I realise that part of turning her out is taking on this risk that she may overdo it, but I would rather turn her out than stall her, even with a tendon injury. Her injury is very superficial and while there is some risk of it worsening if she overdoes it, it's not as bad as if it were a true strain or a rupture. My vet is behind me on the decision to turn out, and said she can even return to work very soon, but I am in no rush to return her to real work and so I will probably be quite conservative.

Thrilled to be walking in circles in the cold! No, really! :D

We'll do a lot of handwalking, then maybe do some walking under saddle next week. I want to do a lot of "emergency dismounts" with her in a rope halter to teach her to stop when I dismount (or fall off). I don't know if this will really translate well, but it's worth a shot, and it's something we can practice easily at a walk. As we progress to more of a workload we will practice it at a trot and canter, too. I think some horses are more of a "thinking" type when something goes awry. Lucy is not. She is flighty and hot. I don't think these exercises will change her nature, but they may install a pause (or delay) button.

another setback

I was just starting to breathe normally and feel relieved, thinking we were through the worst of it, when I arrived at the barn yesterday to find Lucy's front right looking very swollen around the tendon. In fact, it looked like a classic bow to me. I immediately felt sick and panicky. I brought her inside and inspected it from every angle, feeling for heat and any other injuries I had missed. I wracked my brain, thinking, "how haven't I noticed this before?" All of my standing wraps were at home in the washing machine so I gave her a gram of bute with her dinner and ran home to get supplies.

At home, I grabbed my standing wraps, pillow wraps, and all the ice I had in my freezer. I was absolutely beside myself so Kenny came with me to the barn so that we could do our best to bring the swelling down. I poured the ice in a big Home Depot bucket, filled the bucket to the brim with water, and had Lucy stand with her leg in there for 25 minutes. The leg looked a little bit better but still not great. I decided to leave it unwrapped for the night because I didn't want to do more harm.

This morning, the leg looked about the same. I cold-hosed it and iced it intermittently throughout the whole day (I had the day off of work for Veteran's Day). At 4pm, I did a Furazone sweat to try and draw out some fluid. The tendon never really got hot - it was a bit warm but nothing crazy.

I believe this is actually a bandage bow so now I have another thing to beat myself up over. I think I caught it very early and after the Furazone sweat, the leg looks quite good. There is some localized swelling on the tendon but very limited heat. I am going through bags of carrots like they are going out of style, but Lucy is an excellent patient and her cooperation makes all of these therapeutic tasks a lot easier to get through.

Photos:

Last night (11/11) when I noticed it initially

11/11 PM from the inside of the leg. Notice the
fluid build-up above the ankle, too.

11/12 AM - after being iced for 25 minutes. the swelling
on the tendon had gone down but the lower half of the
leg had increased edema.

11/12 PM. 

After I iced the leg in the morning, I put Sore No More poultice on it and wrapped it lightly with cotton, then secured the top and bottom of the cotton wrap. That stayed on for about 6 hours. When I got to the barn in the afternoon, I wrapped the leg with this Ice Tape cold therapy wrap (click here to see it on Dover's website so that I didn't have to stand there and cold hose her for another 25 minutes.

Instead, she could graze in the dark while the
wrap did its thing.

After the cold therapy wrap was finished, I did the
Furazone sweat and left that on for four hours. This is
what the leg looked like after I washed all of the
Furazone off. Much better!

I left the leg naked for the night so the tendons could have a break from being wrapped. She also got another gram of bute with dinner. This is such a nightmare and I am running myself ragged trying to do as much as I can to prevent further damage, but if she's sound at the end of it, it will be worth the effort. I called my vet today to keep her in the loop but decided not to have her come out just yet.

the healing process

Lucy took her 5 day sentence of stall rest relatively well; at least I had thought she did until another boarder told me today that she caught Lucy body-slamming herself against her stall door. I am not sure if that's an exaggeration or not but I am disappointed that I wasn't told before today, because I could have given her some slow-release sedatives to make the confinement easier on her. I didn't want to drug her and she seemed to be doing so well but obviously body-slamming is not conducive to "taking it easy" and I am just glad she didn't do herself more harm.

Her wounds continue to heal well. I changed her bandages on Thursday night, and again this morning. Her fetlock surprises me each time I see it; the tissue is filling in nicely and everything looks clean and healthy. The wound on her stifle looks ok and is staying clean, but it looks ugly compared to everything else because there is no way to cover that area so it is already developing a pretty good scab. I have been gently cleaning it with betadine scrub and then treating it with Derma Gel to assure proper healing.

I took some photos of her progress each time I redressed her legs.

Thursday night, before scrubbing with Betadine:

Right front, looking much less swollen than on Monday!

left hind fetlock

left hind stifle

After disinfecting/scrubbing:

wrapped up and ready for bed!

Today after cleaning:

bandaged up again, and sporting her new cooler that I won at Equine Affaire!

Today she started turnout again. I held her on a leadrope for the first ten minutes or so in a grass paddock. When she settled down and started grazing, I unclipped the leadrope but still stayed next to her. After another ten minutes, I took a few steps away and gradually as time passed, I made my way to the fence line. This way it wasn't like, SURPRISE! YOU'RE FREE!, which probably would have resulted in a  bit of craziness. She was a really good girl and stayed quiet for the most part. Two horses returned from a trail ride and walked past her, and at that point she took a few trot steps and got a little excited, but she settled back down quickly. She looked very sound, too!!

I also picked up my saddle today, something I was procrastinating on big time. I was honestly scared to pick it up because I didn't have the courage to see what it was going to look like. To my great surprise, it actually looks wonderful. The man who worked on it, Steve Briggs from Allie's Tack and Feed, is an incredibly talented and gifted tack repair specialist. He must have worked some magic on that saddle!! Though it will always have blemishes from this accident, it looks much better than I could have hoped for.

The Equine Affaire report is coming...I have lots of video to go through still so it may take me a couple days :)

the worst feeling ever

Lucy had all weekend to let her Robaxin work and I was excited to see how she was feeling. I had an appointment after work today, and because I knew I wouldn't be able to ride after work, I got up super early and tacked her up this morning. I was in the saddle by 6:30am. She started out great and was super quiet and stretchy. We were at the far end of the ring, by the woods, and all of a sudden there was a dog in the woods staring at us. Lucy looked at it, and it went down into the play stance (front legs down, butt up in the air). She spooked, spun, and bolted. I tried so hard to stay on her but she spun so fast that my weight pulled the saddle to one side and I fell hard onto my lower back. I tried holding onto her but she dragged me a few feet before I let go of the reins. Maddy had just gotten to the barn and she stood at the top of the path down to the ring, trying to stop Lucy, but the saddle was working its way around her barrel and she was absolutely petrified. She didn't even see Maddy. She flew right past her and up into the road. She slipped and fell on the pavement as she was turning out into the driveway, but got up and kept running. She ran a mile down the road to a major intersection, but then someone I know stopped and caught her, took off the saddle, and waited for us to catch up. Maddy made it down there before I did and by the time I caught up to her, she was already walking Lucy home. Thank god a horsey person stopped to help, and as usual, I don't know what I would have done if Maddy hadn't been there. She told me there were two other ladies who were screaming at Lucy to stop running and when Maddy caught up to them (someone had stopped and given her a ride in their car so she was way ahead of me), they screamed at her that this was horse abuse. What is wrong with people?

Lucy was walking fairly sound, but I immediately saw the damage to her legs. She was already bleeding quite a lot, but nothing arterial. As soon as we got her back to the barn, I called the vet's emergency number and initiated that whole thing. I gave her some banamine right away to help the pain and keep her calm. The vet arrived within about 45 minutes. Lauren also came - I called her right after the vet. My barn owner came over to lend a hand, too. My friends are just incredible.

Lucy's front right cannon bone had a massive swelling that developed within about 5 minutes. I thought she had fractured something and I spent the entire 45 minutes waiting for the vet, thinking that I was going to have to put her down. Nothing will make you forget about some silly clinic, or a beaten up saddle, faster than if you have to consider where you will bury your horse. It was the worst feeling ever.

The vet cleaned everything out really well. Sadly there was no way to suture anything because she had torn all of the skin away. She x-rayed the RF and it was just a bad bone bruise, thank god. The x-rays showed that her LH leg was fine, too. No fractures on her patella or her LH fetlock, despite the nasty injuries. The vet prescribed stall rest for a week, though she can come out and graze on a lead line if she stays quiet.

My saddle looks like absolute hell. I took it to a local tack store for the owner to look at it. The leather on the pommel and cantle is badly scratched up but the tree is thankfully not broken.

Tonight I am extremely sore. I was doing ok while the adrenaline was still pumping, but I went to work after Lucy was all tucked in and as comfortable as possible in her stall, but sitting in my chair at work without moving much caused my whole body to stiffen up, and I am really feeling it right now!

So needless to say, we won't be going to Equine Affaire this week. That is the least of my problems but I still am very sad that we are going to miss out on the fun. EA's management was absolutely wonderful; I called them right away this morning in hopes that they could give my spot to someone else for the clinic. They were so good about it - they said not to worry, and they even refunded my clinic fee once my vet faxed over some paperwork about Lucy's injury. Lauren and I are still going to go and enjoy EA since we both took Friday off and we have been looking forward to it for a long time!

Lucy rearranges her paddock

Lucy's chiro appt was yesterday. He texted me a few times during the exam, since I was stuck at work, to ask me questions like when her teeth were done and what saddle pad(s) I have been using. I like this chiropractor because he doesn't just make the horse go pop and then call it a day. He takes everything into account, right down to the horse's tootsies. He reported that she only tried to kick him once (sigh), her neck was sore, her SI area was very tight, Lauren's saddle doesn't fit at all, and my saddle is going to have to be replaced in the future.

Uhhhhhhhhhh...

Ok, well this was a lot to digest on a Monday after a very long meeting at work. Poor Lauren, but at least my saddle fits well with the help of the fleece 1/2 pad I usually ride in. As for the kicking, this is nothing new and she doesn't try to kick the person, but she does tend to kick out slightly when her hind end is being messed with (I suspect she's just uncomfortable). I hope this was the case with the chiro because I really hate when she's naughty around professionals who are trying to help her. As for the neck soreness, that was confusing until I got to the barn after work to find Lucy down on one knee, butt up in the air, head twisted to the side with her left cheek on the ground wedged under the fence to get at the grass on the other side. "Well, this explains a lot," I thought.

I think I will get a second opinion on my saddle before do anything drastic. I cannot afford a saddle change right now and while the chiro assured me it was perfectly fine to ride in with the half pad, I want to plan for a change if that's what has to happen so that I'm not caught broadsided like I was last time (similar to what just happened to Lauren, except I had no saddle to ride in). I have a fabulously talented saddle fitter and if there's a way to fit this saddle to Lucy, even if I need to adjust the tree, that would be preferable over getting a different saddle.

Then I got a really fun phone call today at work to let me know that Lucy had gotten tangled in her hay net and in her effort to free herself, she pulled down a bunch of fencing in her paddock. Luckily this is not the fencing that keeps her in her paddock; rather it surrounds a tree and some vegetation that the barn owner doesn't want the horse to get into. It's steel panel fencing and I bet she really scared herself pulling all of that down. I am so grateful that Maddy got to the barn not long after it probably happened, fixed the fencing, doctored Lucy's scratches (her LF has a nice long scrape on the outside of the cannon bone), and rigged up a better system for her hay net.

I am not really a big hay net fan but she wastes hay like it's $0.50 a bale (um, try $7/bale) and the hay net really helps to keep hay off the ground and in her belly, instead. This causes a few problems, though, because I don't want her twisting her head to get at the hay, so I leave the hay net as low as I can without risking her getting tangled in it. Clearly this backfired today because she DID get tangled in it, so it's going to have to get rigged up a bit higher.

I just can't win!

Good news is that after work, I went to bring the horses in and feed them, and I let Lucy have a quick free lunge in the indoor before I gave her dinner. She rolled in her favourite spot, had a nice trot, then took off in a bucking and leaping fit up and down the arena that lasted a solid two minutes as I stood there with one eyebrow raised and an amused smile across my face.

Thank god I didn't decide to ride that beast today.

all the time in the world

I know I have failed at keeping this blog up. Terri, thank you for your sweet comment wondering how I was doing. To be honest, I have had a rough time lately. My husband lost his job about 3 months ago and I was laid off last week. It's depressing that the one thing that always makes me happy (Lucy) is also the one thing that I absolutely cannot afford without a job. I am hopeful that a new job will come along soon (PLEASE) but it has been tough to remain upbeat when I know how rough the job market is.

So, any good thoughts would be appreciated.

In the mean time, I am shooting a few weddings and doing some other design work. I would love to paint some more saddle pads, too, so if you know of anyone looking for a cool gift or for a way to stand out at their next event, send them my way! :) Kenny and I are also doing a lot of work on the house. I have learned how to use a tile saw and helped Kenny pour concrete to build new front steps on the house, which we then cemented repurposed tile onto. It looks great!

I am almost fully recovered from my fall a week and a half ago. My right elbow is still bothering me and I think when I get a new job/health insurance, I will get it x-rayed if it is still hurting. When I was young I broke my left elbow falling off a horse and it was the same type of pain, very minimal unless I bend my arm *just right*, then quite a lot of pain. I didn't get my arm looked at for two weeks the first time I broke my elbow and it did have a fracture in it. I am not too worried about my elbow but I am going to be careful with it. It would suck to have a cast right now because it's REALLY hot, I want to ride, and it's my right arm and I am right handed! My leg is totally fine now, just a really cool bruise is all that's left!

Lucy has been doing wonderfully. We've had some nice dressage schools. Lauren noticed that the new bit I got for her was rubbing the sides of her mouth just slightly, so I bought some bit guards and she went even better in that bit now that her pony lips are protected :) I am doing some temp work at the local Dover store for their tent sale tomorrow through Saturday, so on Friday I plan on having a jump school after "work" and then Saturday I will bathe her. Sunday is the event at Groton House, and we'd love to see/meet anyone local. My dressage is at 12:42, jumping is at 1:46, and XC is at 1:56.

Here are some cute photos of Lucy making friends with a bunny yesterday after our ride:

spring shots, tongue update, Cairo at the beach (again)

Today was Spring Shots, Round 1. Lucy was her normal superstar for the vet to do his thing. She got a blood-draw for her Coggins, and she got the Rabies and EWT vaccines, and she practically slept through the whole shebang. In addition, the vet checked out a bump I found on the inside of one of her back legs and determined it was a cyst and I didn't need to be worried about it unless it started growing. He also checked out her tongue to make sure it was healing properly. This is what it looked like today:

So if you can imagine that, but three times the size, plus lots of blood, that's what the original wound looked like.

The wound currently looks very healthy and is healing quite well. It has closed up considerably and thank goodness there doesn't seem to be much scarring so far. What is left of the injury isn't bloody or raw; it's pink and filling in nicely. My vet said I didn't even need to rinse her mouth out anymore.

Lucy got the rest of the day off to sunbathe in the 80 degree heatwave we're getting (I AM SO HAPPY) and Kenny and I took Cairo to the beach again:

she was so happy

taking a moment to snuggle with my handsome husband

people were out walking in shorts and t-shirts. I wasn't quite that brave, donning
a long-sleeved shirt, but I did wear a skirt!

she started doing the puppy scoot/run thing, you know, where they just go
absolutely wild

she promptly got a bath when we got home. I don't think you can blame me...

If I were a lion, I'd be scared.

It's going to be in the high 70's/low 80's allllllll week here. I am PSYCHED :D